Tool fixtures are well known in the prior art.
For example, the starter guide disclosed by Morui et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,066 teaches the use of a drill bit starter guide held in place by a plurality of suction cups.
Another example of using a plurality of suction cups attached to a tool fixture is a seam tracking drilling machine by Wheetley et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,099. The machine of the '099 patent is a complicated machine having inner and outer sets of suction cups such that the machine may be moved along a precise line of an outer surface to be drilled.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,946,246 to Alan for a drill fixture discloses a plurality of spaced apart suction cups having a central portion formed for accommodating a drill bit through the suction cup. In addition, the '246 patent teaches applying a continuous vacuum to each of the suction cups. The '246 patent teaches the use of a specially designed suction cup for accommodating a drill bit to prevent dimpling when a hole is drilled in sheet metal.
Nothing in the prior art, with the exception of the very specialized drill fixture of the '246 patent, teaches the use of a continuous vacuum being pulled on a plurality of attachment devices of a tool fixture. The suction cups of the prior art rely on the initial vacuum between the work surface and the suction cup to be maintained. If during work the vacuum of the prior art should deteriorate, the prior art drill fixtures are likely to move and/or fall-off the work surface causing unnecessary delays and increasing the likelihood that mistakes will be made in the work surface.
Nowhere in the '246 patent is there any teaching or suggestion to use a plurality of suction cups having a continuous vacuum for holding a tool in place. Rather, the '246 patent is only concerned with providing a specially designed suction cup to accommodate a drill bit and prevent dimpling of sheet metal when the sheet metal is being drilled.